Belfast Merchant Families in the Seventeenth Century

Notes:

Draws on a doctoral thesis. Based on a study of 32 merchant families comprising 20 per cent of all Belfast merchants and at least 50 per cent of overseas merchants. Profiles of these merchants are to be found in an appendix [pp207-52]. This data is analysed to shed light on the social and economic composition of Belfast's merchant community with regard to such issues development of Belfast' religious divisions, corporation politics, etc. Structured in eight sections: 1] 'Belfast - the growth of the town and community' - 'Reasons for growth' / 'Settlement and population' / 'Development of the town'; 2] 'The merchant community' - 'Kinship' / 'Wealth' / 'Land' / 'Status'; 3] 'Religion in Belfast' - 'Growth of Presbyterianism in Belfast' / 'Religion and community' / 'Confrontation and conflict'; 4] 'Politics and the corporation' - 'The Corporation of Belfast up to 1688' / 'Interlude - the James II Corporation' / 'The Corporation of Belfast, 1869-1707'; 5] 'Trade' - 'Exports, imports and markets' / 'Foreign embargoes and English legislation'; 6] 'Business practice' - 'Partnerships, ships and shipping' / 'Friends and factors' / 'Commercial morality' / 'Profit and loss, success and failure'; 7] 'Cash and credit' - 'Bills of exchange' / 'Specie and cash flow in Ireland' / 'Merchants and gentry' /'Merchants and bankers'; 8] 'The merchant community abroad'